UNDP Turkey and Private
Sector Partnerships
UNDP Turkey is implementing a multi-pronged strategy
to implement recommendations put forth by the UN Commission on Private
Sector and Development. In its 2004 report, entitled Unleashing
Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor, the
Commission called on the international public and private sectors
to identify the best practices, domestic policies, enabling reforms
and strategic partnerships that would encourage entrepreneurship
in developing countries to help reduce poverty.
In this light, UNDP Turkey is creating partnerships
between government, business, and civil society organizations to
stimulate entrepreneurship within Turkey and between neighboring
countries in to quicken the pace of sustainable development and
reduce poverty. Of particular importance, is the creation of structures
and pro-poor policies in which government and the private sector
agree to take on an active role to implement innovative ideas and
recommendations, e.g. actively pursuing bottom of the pyramid markets.
UNDP Turkey's multi-pronged strategy involves:
(i) the creation and implementation of
pro-poor policies, notably in the area of investment, trade, and
SME promotion, that will stimulate equitable economic growth and
the furthering of the Millennium Development Goals;
(ii) the strengthening of ethical business practices and
sustainable business development through the implementation of
the Global Compact principles;
(iii) the brokering of multi-stakeholder development partnerships,
notably between government, business, and civil society; and
(iv) the elaboration and implementation of pro-poor trade
policies and partnerships with neighbouring countries that would
lead to equitable economic growth particularly in Turkey's border
regions.
In Turkey, UNDP has been carrying out specific projects
for private sector development especially in relatively poorer areas.
Another initiative for private sector development was the introduction
of the Global Compact to a large private sector audience at the
Forum-Istanbul Meeting "Marching Towards 2023" in March
2002. Similarly, the Millennium Development Goals were introduced
to the Forum Istanbul in May 2004. As a result, more than 60 Turkish
companies have joined the Global Compact, mostly on the Small and
Medium Enterprise level. However, UNDP Turkey wants to further these
global values at the corporate as well as the medium to small scale
level and thus has developed a more focused approach in relation
to private sector development in Turkey, which has now culminated
in a newly starting project called "Partnership with the Business
Sector for Development."
While the projects for private sector development
have continued on one hand, UNDP Turkey, over the last two years,
has embarked to work with private businesses to help Turkey achieve
its development goals on the other. Thus, UNDP has already signed
agreements with CISCO, Baku-Tiblisi Ceyhan Pipeline Company, Microsoft
and recently with Coca Cola. Again, the desire to coordinate these
partnerships led the UNDP to start the "Partnership with the
Business Sector for Development" project. Under the project,
all these activities for the development of the business community
and with the business community will be conducted in a single framework.
Under this project, a new project office has been established in
Istanbul in order to contribute to private sector development and
to engage with the business community in advancing Turkey's broader
development agenda. The "Partnership with the Business Sector
for Development" project aims to strengthen the partnerships
between the UNDP and the business community for the country's development
through advocacy and awareness raising events and also by engaging
business community in development projects. UNDP will try to achieve
above-mentioned multi-pronged strategy through this project.
Opening of the project office in Istanbul tangibly
brings this experience and opportunity to Turkey, leading the way
of the private Turkish companies to contribute to the Millennium
Development Goals such as poverty reduction, the achievement of
universal primary education and gender equality, reduction of child
mortality rates, improvement of maternal health, reversal of the
spread of AIDS, and improvement of environmental sustainability.
UNDP's private sector partnerships in Turkey are linked to the United
Nations' global recognition of the dynamic role that the private
sector can play in contributing to the Millenium Development Goals,
and advocating issues such as corporate social responsibility, human
rights, labor rights, protection of the environment, and anti-corruption
as envisaged in the Global Compact.
Within the project, a new web site (www.undpistanbul.org)
has been established for the business community members who would
like to get information about the project activities, Global Compact,
Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance, Millennium
Development Goals, and ideas about possible private-public sector
partnership.
The UNDP will work with the Corporate
Governance Association of Turkey in order to carry out this
project. In addition, this project, will build partnerships with
business associations, employers associations, chambers of commerce
and academia in order to maximise the collective efforts of private
sector development in Turkey.
Background
In July 2003, Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced
the establishment of the Commission on the Private Sector &
Development, noting: "Our experience has shown that a large
part of the work for development is about preparing the ground for
sufficient private sector activity to provide the jobs and income
needed to build a more equitable and prosperous society. Yet the
UN has only sporadically tapped the power that can be drawn from
engaging the private sector in the work of development."
The Commission
on the Private Sector & Development, co-chaired by Prime
Minister Paul Martin of Canada and Ernesto Zedillo, Mexico's former
president, was convened by Secretary-General in an effort to identify
and address the legal, financial and structural obstacles blocking
the expansion of the indigenous private sector in developing nations
- especially in the poorest regions and communities in those countries
- and recommend how business can create domestic employment and
wealth, free local entrepreneurial energies, and help achieve the
Millennium
Development Goals.
The Secretary-General challenged Co-Chairmen
Martin and Zedillo at the outset to answer two basic questions:
"How can the potential of the private
sector and entrepreneurship be unleashed in developing countries?
And how can the existing private sector be
engaged in meeting that challenge?"
The Commission responded to these questions in Unleashing
Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor -- a
report presented on March 1, 2004 to the Secretary-General. The
report not only suggests policy reforms and other initiatives that
can spur entrepreneurial ventures to serve and employ the poor in
developing countries; it underscores that such enterprises are critical
to the eradication of poverty in the developing world.
Current initiatives in Turkey
Publications and Links:
The United Nations Development Program and the International
Business Leaders Forum identified specific actions that could be
taken by businesses towards the MDGs, resulting in their publication
"Business and the Millennium Development Goals: A Framework
for Action". This report pairs business activities with the
MDGs. The Global Reporting Initiative builds on this by offering
indicators that can help businesses measure and communicate their
contributions to the MDGs
"Communicating Business Contributions to the
Millennium Development Goals" helps businesses manage their
progress towards the MDGs, and reveals where actions they are taking
could be improved to meet these goals. Businesses can thus draw
on GRI's credible framework for sustainability reporting, and use
indicators that have been developed through a rigorous, multi-stakeholder
process that ensures that they accurately capture and reflect activities
and impacts.
UN Global Compact: How to participate?
Turkish companies interested in joining the UN Global
Compact are encouraged to visit the UN
Global Compact Webpage, and also to get in touch directly
with UNDP-Turkey to tap more specifically into the network of participating
companies.
As part of a comprehensive outreach campaign, the
Global Compact has launched the Practical
Guide to Communication on Progress - Advice for Global Compact participating
companies preparing their Communication on Progress.
This new tool was designed to provide simple advice
and practical tips for Global Compact companies of every size, industry
and geographical origin in the preparation of their Communication
on Progress (COP).
|
